


Manipulate

by Morpheus626



Category: Mr. Robot (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25415023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: A request from @elliotslament on Tumblr: “ can you do a fic where the reader gets into an argument with Angela about her manipulating elliot”I’ll admit I’ve never written for Angela before and haven’t been able to rewatch any Mr. Robot recently, but hopefully this fic does justice to the prompt! Also, this fic is just a conversation between the Reader and Angela, the relationship with Elliot is background info as alluded in the prompt, hence why Elliot isn't in the characters list for this!
Relationships: Elliot Alderson/Reader
Kudos: 6





	Manipulate

It wasn’t that you disliked Angela. 

At least you hadn’t, not outright. Truthfully, it had been sweet at first, knowing that one of Elliot’s childhood friends was still present in his life. 

“It isn’t that simple though,” you said. “Not anymore.” 

Angela sat across from you in the restaurant booth, nodding her thanks to the waiter as he set down a drink for each of you. “Does Elliot know we’re meeting?” 

“No,” you said, which was only partially a lie. He knew you were meeting up with ‘an old friend’, he just didn’t know it was one of his. And you were going to tell him the full truth, after. 

“You said you wanted to talk about how people treat Elliot,” Angela said. “That seems like a bad start.” 

“Are you insinuating I don’t treat him well?” 

“I’m not insinuating anything,” Angela said. “I’m saying you’ve obviously lied to him about where you are tonight, and that isn’t right. I know he worries about you. He talks about it all the time, when he does talk, that is.” 

“And I worry about him too,” you said carefully. “Which is why I’m here. Thank you, by the way, for agreeing to meet me.” 

“I don’t know that I would have agreed if you’d been honest from the start,” Angela replied, and you could not just hear, but practically taste the tension her voice created in the air. “If I had known you weren’t going to tell Elliot you were meeting me-” 

“You worry about the truth an awful lot for someone who doesn’t dabble much in it yourself,” you interrupted. 

Angela paused, and sipped her drink. “Do you really want to have this conversation right now?” 

“Is that a threat?” 

“Just a question,” Angela replied. “Along with this one. Do you want to keep being with Elliot, or is this some gross self-sabotage thing so he’ll break up with you and you don’t have to blame yourself for it through some twisted logic?” 

“I love Elliot, and that’s why I’m here,” you said coldly. “He can feel however he needs to once I tell him everything, but I’m here on his behalf.” 

“I love him too,” Angela said. “He’s a dear friend. You, on the other hand-” 

“And you can feel however you want at the end of all this too,” you interrupted again, and Angela’s hand slapped the wooden table. “Testy.” 

“What are you getting out of this?” she asked tersely. 

“Elliot has a lot on his plate,” you said. “Putting it mildly. I just need to know you won’t continue to be another source of trouble for him.” 

“Continue?” Angela scoffed. “How exactly am I so troublesome now? He’s my friend, I’ve helped him, taken care of him-” 

“You’ve manipulated him as much as anyone else in his life,” you interrupted for the third time, and you could see anger burning in Angela’s eyes. 

“This is over,” she muttered, and reached for her purse. 

“Why not just admit it?” you asked. “Wouldn’t that be easier? It would have to weigh less than whatever guilt you must have now in regards to Elliot.” 

She stood.

“And Mr. Robot,” you said softly. “Because that’s who you really want, isn’t it? Elliot is just along for the ride at this point. You’d really wipe him out, destroy him mentally, just to bring Mr. Robot out? What friend would do that?” 

“You,” she sat back down, clearly fuming, her voice icy. “Know _nothing_ of what I would do for him. What I have done for him. But there are certain things that need to be done, and once it’s over, he’ll understand. I know he will. He trusts me.” 

She sighed, and deflated some. “He’s my friend.” 

“I don’t want to belabor this,” you said. “Frankly, I don’t think either of us want that. You want to get home, and I want to get back to Elliot. We have a movie night planned.” 

Angela’s lip twitched. “Oh? What movie?” 

“A bunch of his favorites from when he was a kid,” you said. “I think he needs the relaxation, you know?” 

She took a deep breath, and it almost made you upset with the manipulation you were having to do yourself now, to her. In another world, maybe the three of you could have hung out, been better friends to each other. 

But Elliot needed help, and you couldn’t sit back and watch as she drove him mad, all for the sake of Stage 2. 

“So,” you continued. “We agree on that, right? Elliot deserves to be treated well. To have time to relax. Surely, you can see how the way you’ve been acting with him is counterproductive to that goal.” 

“Don’t talk to me like I’m some child,” Angela said. “He does deserve all of that. But there’s work, good work, important work, that needs to be done. If he can’t...won’t do it, then I need the part of him that will. Once Stage 2 is done, he’ll be better off for it. We all will.” 

“You sound like a fucking cultist,” you smirked. “Are you proud of that?” 

“And what the fuck does that make you?” Angela asked, her voice rising. “Do you think belonging to fsociety, or anything else, makes you that much better? I’ve already said, we’re making important strides towards making the world a better place. I know that’s something Elliot wants. He just can’t see what needs to be done, what we’re going to do, from our perspective. But after-” 

“God!” you let your own voice rise, kicking at the floor of the booth. “After, after, after. Is that all you can talk about? Because guess what, we aren’t living in this magical ‘after’ you keep droning on and on about. We’re in the now, in the moment, and that’s where Elliot is too. And if you really care about him, you’d trust his feelings about this. All of it, Stage 2, Whiterose. But you don’t care about him like that, not anymore. Not like a true friend would.” 

There were tears in her eyes now, and again, you almost regretted this. Almost.

“I think we’re done here,” you said curtly, and left enough money for both of your drinks on the table, as well as a decent tip. It was the last of your cash, but you weren’t about to let her have the satisfaction of paying for you. “I hope you’ll think about what we talked about here. I’ll give Elliot your love.” 

You turned to look back into the restaurant window after you left. 

She was still sat there, shoulders heaving. It was rough, seeing anyone hurt, but none of this was without victims. 

And you wouldn’t see Elliot be one again. 


End file.
